"The Official Portrait of Miss InDiana"

Sunday, January 20, 2008

You may recall that we told you about the 20 year abandoned eyesore known as White River School and one of our activists reported on the recent press conference which showed the city the terrible condition of the property under Superintendent Mervilde's watch. Property we should remind you belongs to the people.

Now it seems Mervilde is trying to appear that he cares about the blight , but the reality is that he is on the hot seat and is really passing the buck. That asset and property still is not returned to the taxpayer and its condition has vastly deteriorited under Mervilde's watch. What is our asset worth now?

And yet Mervilde wants more of your money so that Washington Township's children don't become "victims" of property tax reform as he was recently quoted saying. What Mervilde really wants is to keep his fat paycheck, private bathroom in his office, and in the good graces of Schellinger and McNeilly of CSO Architects. Doncha think?

Three problems:

1. Too little, too late. “This week Mervilde told the school district's director of operations, Phil Smith, to have the trash removed from the site and 102 windows boarded up.”

2. Then he tries to put the blame on Indy Parks…"We believe it's the responsibility of Indy Parks," Mervilde said. "In 2004 we entered into an agreement with Indy Parks. . . . We are not pleased with the progress of that." He conveniently forgets the previous 10 to 20 years of zero action by MSDWT since the school was closed and abandoned.

3. “The cost of the cleanup has not been calculated, Mervilde said, and the district hopes to share the cost with the parks department.” Mervilde should have discussed this with the Parks Dept. before spending the money. Another case where he doesn’t think ahead on financial matters.

The MSDWT record of abandoned buildings is abominable. What is in store for Harcourt and Wyandotte and their neighborhoods?